beetle menace
pp. 107-108 · Read in the full issue
Nuclear radiation 'no answer' to beetle menace
From SUE WENDT, in Suva Hopes that American nuclear physicist, Dr. D. F. Koch, had come up with a real and viable solution to the rhinoceros beetle menace were dashed when Dr.
Euan C. Young’s comments were heard in March.
Dr. Young, who is manager of the United Nations-South Pacific Com mission beetle project in Apia, de clared that to employ the “nuclear sterile male technique” suggested by Dr. Koch would bring about “fan tastic damage” to coconut palms.
During a visit to Fiji in February the American nuclear physicist said the technique involving nuclear radiation—would eventually dispose of the rhinoceros beetle. If grubs were caught and exposed to radi ation, they would pass on radiation sickness to their offspring until the pest was wiped out.
Dr. Young explained that extensive work had been done on the “sterile male technique”—and it had been found to have drawbacks.
“Application of these experiments
in the field would be enormously difficult,” he said. “It takes six months to rear one beetle grub and extremely large numbers of beetles would have to be released in order to make their sterility a significant factor in the beetle population and effect a real decrease “When it is remembered that it is the adult beetle which does the damage to coconut palms, it can be seen that fantastic damage would be done in a short period if this method was attempted.
“For these reasons, the board of directors of the project decided to discontinue the sterility studies.”
Dr. Young reported that the pro-
ject’s scientists were carrying out a detailed survey of beetle populations and damage in Western Samoa. This was being compared with the damage of a few years ago. , . m^ n Y beetles as possible were being collected in an attempt to study * he eff ?. cts of two . disease metarrhizium and the Malayan beetle virus Rhabdionvirus oryctes— which had been liberated among the beetle population, It seemed as though they had cut down the beetle population dramatic ally in Western Samoa—but the actual speed and effectiveness of the weapon was still to be measured.